


Nettles and Lillies

by ASabsStory



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, He has a lot of creative insults, Lovino swears a lot, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Poor Romano, Slow Build, Survival, Zombie Apocalypse, it's not sexual though, someone give him a hug, someone just gets walked in on don't worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-07-28 10:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7637335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASabsStory/pseuds/ASabsStory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ludwig comes upon two brothers trapped between a cliff and a horde of Feeders, he can only save one.<br/>The one he does save turns out to be bitter, mean and, at times, completely and utterly ridiculous... but Ludwig finds himself starting to become attracted to him nonetheless. Now his only obstacles are his brother, the wilderness, Feeders, the weather, and Lovino's undying hate for his very existence.<br/>What could go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1: Ludwig basically kidnaps Lovino, and Lovino punches him for it

**Author's Note:**

> Not as sad as it sounds.  
> The first chapter is kept short and sweet.  
> Explanations for setting and plot at the end notes!

The man's fist connected with his jaw with a loud thud, taking him by surprise. He was in no way prepared for such an action, something he paid for dearly as he toppled backwards, landing flat on his back. He supposed it was a probably partially to blame that he'd (apparently) underestimated his attacker and assumed he was weak, but at the time it had seemed highly unlikely that someone that small packed a punch that painful. Besides, Ludwig was often good at determining that sort of thing, and he found that his observations were reliable more often than not. Taking into account that the man looked like he hadn't eaten or slept in days, and anyone could have made the same mistake.  
The man sniffled pathetically and wiped his nose with the back of his hand, tears still cutting red trails down his cheeks. They gathered on his jaw before becoming too heavy to support their own weight and falling to the man's shirt, leaving dark splotches on the ripped fabric. He looked pitiful and broken, but he seemed to have at least some semblance of pride as he straightened his back to appear larger and more threatening. "Bitch," he spat, glaring down at Ludwig.

  
Looking up at him now, Ludwig took the man in. His hair was a dark auburn, falling to the base of his neck and partially hiding his face. It was tangled, messy and dirty, making Ludwig question just how long he had been on the run. His tan skin was smeared with dirt and tears and littered with cuts, and his brown- no, green- eyes were rimmed with red from crying. He was an absolute mess, but something about the fierce life in his eyes made Ludwig envious of his spirit, which wasn't something he could say about many people he'd encountered in his life.

  
With an irritated sigh, Ludwig stood up, dusting himself off as his brother emerged from their cabin, looking confused but not particularly bothered by the disturbance.  
Ludwig's older brother Gilbert was about as contrary to him as you could get. He was irresponsible, loud, reckless and he tended to act on instinct, rather than on thought. They also looked nothing alike. Where Ludwig was muscular and built, with blond hair and icy blue eyes, Gilbert was lanky. His hair was pure white and his eyes an odd shade of red that people often questioned him about. Nearly the only similarities between them were that they were loud, tall, neat freaks who liked to read and that had an appreciation for German food.

  
"Who's the pipsqueak?" Gilbert seemed blissfully unconcerned about the rapidly forming bruise on his brother's jaw as he popped the gum in his mouth and leaned against a tree.

  
The previously mentioned pipsqueak looked about ready to try and punch Gilbert, too, for that comment. "None of your damned business." He whipped around to snarl at Ludwig, chartreuse eyes flashing. "Give me back my fucking gun. I'm going back for him."  
Ludwig shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "Your brother is dead, no one could have survived a fall that long, especially not with a crowd of Feeders following you over the edge. As for your things, you'll get them back when I deem you trustworthy enough not to kill us."  
The man was so red, Ludwig worried his head might explode. He looked like he wanted to cry or scream, or maybe both. "You're not the boss of me," he managed to splutter, turning on his heel and storming to the other side of the camp. He dropped down to sit and stare out at the lake they were camping out on. He looked out at it for only a few seconds before he drew his knees up to his chest and dropped his forehead onto them, covering the back of his head with his hands. He began to shake, which led Ludwig to believe that he was crying again.

  
Gilbert leaned against Ludwig's shoulder, blowing a bubble with his gum and popping it loudly. Ludwig shrugged him off. "What's got his panties in a twist?"  
"He and his brother were cornered at West Point, the old cliff by the waterfall. There was at least four dozen Feeders. I managed to get him out, but his brother went over the edge before I could get back to him. He kicked and screamed the entire way home," Ludwig muttered the last sentence, handing Gilbert the man's backpack. "Make sure he doesn't get this. He's got weapons in it and I don't want him using them against us."  
Gilbert sighed and slung the pack over his shoulder. He appeared to be at a loss for words, but it wasn't a surprise to Ludwig that he really did have something to say. "If he kills us, it's your fault."

  
._._._._.

  
Lovino had to admit, the place he'd been brought to was gorgeous. The cabin was located on an expanse of grass, sandwiched between a forest of towering pines and a pond so clean that it acted as a massive mirror, reflecting everything around it so perfectly that if Lovino had been turned upside down, he would never have been able to tell that he was facing the wrong way. In the not-so-distant distance, mountains covered in grass and rock stuck jaggedly from the ground. Across the pond were open plains, with herds of what Lovino assumed were bison grazing lazily in the grass. The early fall air was crisp and cool, leaving a pleasant feeling on Lovino's skin, as if the end of the summer heat signified a fresh start.

  
The location seemed to actually be pretty well thought out by the German brothers. Being out in the middle of nowhere wouldn't allow them to raid buildings for supplies or food, but it did mean that running into Feeders would be rare, and when they did there would be fewer, making it easier to take care of them. It also meant that hunting would be easier, as animals like deer, elk, bison, rabbits, squirrels and a long, long list of others naturally thrived out here. The tall trees provided cover from rain and helped to hide their camp from sight, and the pond provided a source of clean water and fish. The mountains surrounding them would serve to offer protection from storms.  
After a few days, Lovino had decided that he had to stay there, even if it meant tolerating the Buff Blond Bastard.

  
The older one, Gilbert, wasn't too bad. He seemed to understand what Lovino was going through with the loss of his brother. According to him, he'd basically raised Buff Blond Bastard himself, since their parents were gone on long business trips more often than not. Their deaths hadn't been a loss for either child because they weren't in the picture to begin with. Buff Blond Bastard hadn't had many friends growing up (big surprise there) which left Gilbert as the only one he had. Gilbert, however, had had two friends that he considered almost family, and losing them had been hard on him. Gilbert tried to explain to Lovino that Ludwig was only so harsh to Lovino about his brother's death because he'd never lost someone before. Lovino had rolled his eyes and snarled that ignorance was bliss, but even Gilbert, who'd known him maybe a day at that point in time, could tell that Lovino had only half meant it. Gilbert had slipped a stale chocolate bar into Lovino's pocket, ruffled the Italian's hair and left, laughing at the half-hearted insults that followed him for touching Lovino.

  
Lovino took one last look at the lake, smiled for the first time in months, then stuffed his hands into the pockets of his vest and turned to Gilbert, finally answering the question he'd asked on the first day Lovino had arrived.

  
"Yeah. I'll stay. I've got nowhere else to go."


	2. Ludwig Stares at Lovino a lot and Lovino Doesn't Like it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for accidental voyeurism and hints of sexual thoughts, but there's no real sexual content.
> 
> Also if someone could help me figure out how to dedicate chapters to someone that would be very nice of them because I'm clueless.

Most mornings, Ludwig was the first person up by at least an hour. Gilbert never rose before eight o'clock, and while Lovino seemed to wake up early, he also tended to laze about in bed until Ludwig came in and yelled for both him and Gilbert to wake up and start helping. Ludwig felt badly for being as strict as he was, but there needed to be a voice of reason among the group, and no one else seemed to be willing to step forwards and take the role. He and Gilbert had been working on expanding the cabin for over a month before Lovino showed up, and were still only about a third of the way done. That combined with the fact that they didn't have much food preserved and stored for winter, plus the rapidly cooling weather made Ludwig nervous... very nervous. If they didn't have the rest of the cabin built and sealed off, and enough food and supplies to last them until spring, they'd surely starve or freeze.

This morning in particular seemed to be different, however, as Ludwig had been up for only a few minutes when he witnessed Lovino slip out of the cabin, backpack in hand. His eyes darted around the clearing with such an anxious urgency that Ludwig became suspicous of his intentions. He waited about a minute after Lovino had rushed off towards the lake and disappeared behind the trees before following. Slowly, he crept into the cluster of pines and firs blocking Lovino from view. He knelt down behind a tree, leaning out to search for the other. He spotted Lovino's bag sitting on a stump, which eliminated Ludwig's previous theory that Lovino was trying to sneak off. At least, if he was, he wasn't trying to get very far.

Ludwig searched the area, growing increasingly more worried when he didn't see him. He decided to go out and check for Lovino, but just barely caught himself in time to duck back behind the tree as Lovino walked by, in the process of removing his puffy blue vest. Ludwig took a few seconds to calm his racing heart, which he could hear pounding in his ears from the thought of getting caught. He successfuly calmed down enough to peek around again, and when he did, Lovino was gone again.

A noise caught his attention and he looked towards it, spotting Lovino in the lake.

Ludwig corrected himself.

He spotted Lovino was in the lake, naked and singing like he was born to do nothing else.

Ludwig swallowed thickly, blood rushing to his cheeks as both his eyes and his mind wandered to places they probably shouldn't have.

He couldn't help himself! Lovino's voice was haunting, getting caught and carried by the breeze, carrying in a way that not only made it a tad bit creepy, but attractive at the same time. Besides that, Lovino's lower half was-

Ludwig failed to pay attention to his surroundings and when he turned around, he let out a yelp so unmanly that it was just plain uncharacteristic. He clutched at his chest, running his fingers through his hair. "Damnit, Gilbert, you can't just sneak up on me like that," he hissed, now looking angry rather than startled.

"What? Like you're not sneaking up on our little Italian over there? I could see you staring at his ass from like a mile away. Way to be discreet, We-"

"Who's there?" Lovino had stopped singing and pulled a knife out of God knows where, and was now clutching it desperately. "Come out and face me like a man, pervert, so I can shove my knife up your ass for watching me!" As angry as he sounded, he only looked afraid... alone, and afraid of the unknown. He pushed auburn hair from his eyes and swallowed nervously, shifting constantly from foot to foot as he searched the treeline for any sort of movement. He almost looked defenseless, and Ludwig felt a rush of guilt. Lovino was small, thin, and he'd just lost his brother. He didn't have the capaility to take care of himself right now, why was he watching him like-

A branch cracked and Lovino whipped around, launching his knife.

The source of the sound, a squirrel, was pinned to the tree by the blade, to which Lovino only let out a relieved sigh. He trudged out of the water to retrieve his knife, muttering about 'stupid squirrel brains' dirtying his knife.

Both Gilbert and Ludwig were dumbfounded. Ludwig really needed to stop underestimating Lovino.

Gilbert cleared his throat and patted Ludwig on the back, whispering.

"I'll go get started on digging your grave, because when he finds out you were watching him, he's going to kill you."

._._._._._.

Ludwig watched Lovino as he made his way through the trees ahead of him, eyes scanning the foliage for any dangers on occasion. He looked so much better now that he was clean, more civilized, even. That is, if that was even a word you could use to describe Lovino, who was pretty barbaric when he wanted to be. It was a bit ironic that Lovino had no problem hacking the head off a Feeder with bread knife but screamed like a banshee when a spider crawled onto his sleeping bag and then refused to go back inside the cabin until Ludwig had killed it. Lovino was just a walking conundrum that Ludwig was constantly trying to solve.

The aforementioned Italian was now glaring at Ludwig with such and intensity that Ludwig honestly wouldn't have been surprised if you'd have told him that the look had caused people's heads to explode in the past.

"Stop staring at me you fucking creep. Take a damn picture, it'll last longer." The glare only intensified when Ludwig tried to respond, so he gave up with an exapserated sigh. Lovino seemed pleased (though Ludwig wasn't sure anything pleased Lovino) by this and turned back around to continue walking, muttering under his breath in Italian. Ludwig felt he was probably lucky that he didn't speak a word of the language, judging by the unpleasant tone that the other's voice had taken. He did his best to tune it out, allowing his mind to wander.

And wander it did.

He found himself thinking about just how beautiful Lovino was, despite his harsh personality. Ludwig had seen him smile twice, once at Gilbert (though the briefness of it led Ludwig to believe that that had been an accident and that it wasn't supposed to have happened) and the second time at a rabbit as it hopped into their clearing. Gilbert had wiped the smile clean off Lovino's face when he speared the rabbit on a makeshift weapon made from a long stick with a knife taped to the end of it and prompted an hour long argument between the two on whether or not it was neccesary to kill the bunny, though that was besides to point. Now that he thought about it, he'd never even heard Lovino's real laugh. Sure, he'd heard him cackle when Gilbert had pushed him and he'd fallen into the lake, and when Gilbert hadn't properly marked one of their traps on the map when he and Lovino were going to empty them for food and Ludwig had ended up hanging from a tree, but those weren't real laughs. Those were laughs meant to show Ludwig how much he resented him for allowing his brother die. Ludwig wanted to hear Lovino laugh, and found himself growing increasingly more curious about whether it would be as pretty as his smile. The way things were going with Lovino, however, led Ludwig to believe that the odds weren't exactly in his favor to hear Lovino laugh. The man didn't particularly like him, and Ludwig wasn't exactly known for his humor.

"I said stop looking at me, you ugly fuck!" Ludwig jumped, realizing that Lovino had whipped around to face him and was now very much angry with him. "Why can't you get it through your thick skull that it's rude to stare at people?"

Ludwig found himself frowning. "I was staring off into space, not at you. That level of aggression isn't a healthy response to such a small-"

"Excuse me? First of all, I am not aggressive, secondly, unhealthy? Who the fuck are you calling unhealthy, you big brute? Maybe it' s unhealthy to be a big wall of fucking muscle, huh? Maybe you're just-"

"Please keep your voice down."

"What, so now I'm loud?" Lovino's voice had gradually been rising in pitch as he got more worked up, and was now at such an extreme level that Ludwig was sure that if it got any higher that only dogs would be able to hear him.

"Yes, actually. It's a bit-"

"Die and go to hell, Ludwig!"

Lovino turned on his heal and stormed off in the opposite direction, to which Ludwig gave another one of his frustrated sighs. Lovino was like a large child, throwing daily tantrums, demanding to have things his way, and not taking no for an answer. He didn't contribute in any way to the camp, in fact, if anything, he was really nothing more than a disadvantage. Whenever he was asked to do chores, he'd throw a fit. He slept in, he didn't help, and he complained incessantly about stupid things that nobody could control, like the weather or the tempurature of the water or about something about Ludwig. Lovino was selfish, spoiled and useless, and the German found himself wondering if he really should have saved his brother instead of him. His little brother (Lovino had said his name was Feliciano at some point, he was pretty sure) had certainly seemed to be kinder at the time, judging by how eagerly he had allowed himself to die just to make sure Lovino was going to make it out alive. From the way Lovino described him whenever he spoke of him, he seemed to have been a saint. As sick as it sounded, more often than not, Ludwig found himself wishing that he'd left Lovino for dead.

A scream pulled him from his thoughts, only for Ludwig to discover that not only was it now pitch black out, but Lovino was nowhere to be seen. There was a second scream, which Ludwig suddenly realized must have been Lovino. It shared an uncanny similarity to the panicked screaming that Lovino did whenever he saw a bee or a spider or worm or something of that nature, so Ludwig wasn't exactly worried. It was Lovino he was dealing with, the chances of it being some sort of ugly looking bug were higher than the chances of Lovino being in any immediate danger.

Ludwig didn't go off in pursuit of Lovino like he would have if he were anyone else. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, it would be very easy to leave Lovino like this, to abandon him and walk away and never see him again. Lovino hadn't bothered to learn his way back to camp, and they were a several hour walk away from home, meaning that his chances of finding his way back were limited. Besides, Lovino gave up easily. If he found something too difficult or he got too stressed out, he would scream and yell and refuse to continue, so Ludwig had that going for him. It wasn't like he was just leaving Lovino for dead, either! Lovino had been on the run for months before Ludwig had found him, so he could take care of himself, and judging by the way he'd speared that squirrel against a tree earlier that morning, he knew how to defend himself. Well... unless it was against a spider. Then Lovino would be screwed.

Ludwig heard another scream, but this one was different. This one was one he couldn't just ignore. Lovino had screamed Ludwig's name desperately, and Ludwig could no longer deny to himself that hearing Lovino sound so scared like that made his stomach flip. The thought that Lovino was calling to Ludwig for help, that Lovino needed him left a joyful ache deep in his chest.

"Ludwig, please!" Lovino sounded terrified, and Ludwig's prior happiness was smothered by dread in the pit of his stomach. Lovino never used his manners, so this must have been serious.

Ludwig grabbed his flashlight from his pocket and stumbled through the darkness to find Lovino, heading in the direction he'd heard his voice come from. It wasn't too difficult to find Lovino, because he was now yelling at whatever had him so scared in Italian, and Ludwig once again found himself lucky that he didn't speak it. He was ninety percent sure that whatever Lovino was saying wasn't very nice.

He came around a tree and spotterd Lovino up in a tree, though only barely. It appeared that Lovino had grabbed a branch and pulled himself up, but had gotten up to his hips when his grip had slipped and he was left bent over the branch at the middle, hanging there. Ludwig would have foudn it amusing if it weren't for how franticly he was trying to get back up again. Ludwig's eyes were drawn to what Lovino wanted to escape from, a threat that turned out to be a small group of wolves. There looked to only be five, two still circling the tree under Lovino, one hanging back to see which pair needed it first, and two now creeping towards Ludwig.

They were grey wolves, with black, grey and white fur with the occaisonal hint of brown. Even the smallest one was twice the size of the German shepherd he used to own, looking to be about two and a half feet tall. As worrying as their size was, the length of their fangs was even more so. It also didn't help that the one on his left had blood on its muzzle, an observation that made Ludwig sick. These were nothing like the dogs that Ludwig loved so much, these were wild animals. They were dangerous and Ludwig couldn't just tell them to sit and expect them to obey him, he had to actually fight back. Ludwig made the mistake of locking eyes with one of them, staring directly into golden irises.

The wolf snarled and lunged for Ludwig' s arm. It missed, which was just dumb luck on Ludwig's side, but got Ludwig's flashlight and ripped it from his hand with such a force that Ludwig was reminded just how strong these animals were, just how easily that could have been his hand that was ripped off. Shaking, he fumbled to unbutton his holster and get to his gun. The wolves appeared to be regrouping; the one that had lunged for him had dropped the flashlight and was now back next to the other one, but still advancing on him slowly. Even Lovino had forgotten the wolves going after him to watch Ludwig's situation with wide eyes. One lunged for Ludwig again and knocked him to the ground, out of the light of the flashlight and Lovino screamed as Ludwig disappeared from view.

There was a loud bang and the wolves suddenly shot off in terror, leaving Ludwig laying there on the ground, panting. He'd shot the wolf in the stomach when it had jumped on him, just barely missing his throat with its fangs.

Lovino dropped from the tree with a grunt, jogging over to Ludwig to help him up. The man looked up at Ludwig once he was standing, eyes searching over him to check for injuries. Lovino's expression relaxed into a calm one that Ludwig hadn't seen before when Lovino didn't see any. The look quickly evolved into a bashful blush as Lovino murmered an embarressed thank you and started walking away.

"The cabin is in the other direction," he said, smiling just slightly as Lovino huffed and turned around, marching right past Ludwig once again. Ludwig followed, frowning when he saw Lovino limping. "Are you okay?"

Lovino's previous thankfullness must have been gone, because he snapped at Ludwig. "I'm fine! Just fuck off already," he hissed, sounding even angrier than normal, if possible.

Ludwig's smile was quickly replaced by a scowl. "I just saved your life. Again. I know you're ungrateful, but this is bad even for you. It would do you good to not be a spoiled brat all the time, you know. All you do is whine and complain and laze around. You're the most selfish, useless, entitled human being I have ever met and this is the second time I'm regretting saving you. You were right, I should have saved your brother, not you. I should have left you behind," he growled, all his pent up emotions about Lovino finally coming out into the open. He glared at Lovino's back, waiting for some sort of hostile retort, but didn't get one.

Ludwig looked at Lovino unsurely, now getting anxious. Had he hurt Lovino's feelings enough that he didn't want to reply? Or was he just furious enough to ignore Ludwig? That seemed unlikely, when Lovino was upset, he made sure to let you know as loudly as possible. Ludwig cleared his throat. "Lovino, are-"

"I said I'm fine!" Lovino's voice was quivering. Ludwig got more worried. "You're just as bad as my brother! Always doing the right thing and being selfless and taking care of me and I hate it! I hate you! Look where taking care of me landed my brother! He didn't deserve that! I don't want anyone else to die because of me," Lovino stopped yelling, but was still worked up. "You don't understand. You don't. You're just as bad as him and I hate both of you for it. I hate him." Lovino sniffled pitifully, and Ludwig found himself staring dumbfounded as Lovino collapsed onto the ground.

Ludwig surged forwards, shaking Lovino. When he didn't respond, he cursed, searching for whatever could have caused him to pass out.

It wasn't hard to find, and Ludwig cursed again. He didn't know how he'd missed it before, it was more than a little obvious. There was a large bite on Lovino's left calf, one that was bleeding heavily. Ludwig hissed. Shit, that was bad. Why hadn't Lovino told him? What was he expecting to happen? For it to just magically get better and stop bleeding? It was deep, and Ludwig had no idea how Lovino had been able to walk without crying out in pain.

Ludwig swallowed. It was too long of a walk home, he'd have to treat it here. He was glad he always carried a first aid kit around with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to leave me your thoughts in the comments! It really helps me a lot when you do!  
> Same as last time, please feel free to correct my grammar or spelling if you notice any mistakes!
> 
> I'm worried my chapters are too short but on the other hand, if I stretch them out too long they'll be boring, so I'm not sure what to do.


	3. Gilbert is drunk and Ludwig is disappointed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gilbert and Ludwig find a pack of beers, and despite Gilbert's claims otherwise, he's a total lightweight. Ludwig delves deeper into his feelings for Lovino.

                “Dude, jackpot!” Gilbert shouted, voice far too loud for Ludwig to be comfortable with. Ludwig hissed for him to stop yelling, rolling his eyes when Gilbert ignored him and kept his previous volume. He held up two cases of beer, his expression similar to that of a child on Christmas morning. “This is the _good_ shit, Luddy! Real German beer! I’m so fucking excited,” He prattled on like this until Ludwig clamped a hand over his mouth.

 

                “Quiet, brother, you’ll attract Feeders,” Ludwig said, wiping the hand that Gilbert had just licked on his pants with a disgusted look. He watched as Gilbert loaded up his backpack with beers and hesitated before taking some, himself. They stuffed their backpacks full and then took two cases each to carry in their hands. They hadn’t found anything other supplies yet, anyways, so there was no point saving room. If they had to, they could just abandon some of the beer, so it wasn’t too big of a deal. In fact, the discovery actually put a little spring in Ludwig’s step (for once) as they began the trek home. There were three things Ludwig could say he liked more than anything else; He liked good books, good strudel, Lovino, and good beer.

 

                That hadn’t been three things, that had been four. Why had he thought of Lovino? He _liked_ Lovino, sure, but he was nothing compared to his mother’s strudel!

               

                Unless, of course, he was.

 

                That was a new thought… or was it? Ludwig had been thinking about Lovino a lot more, lately. He found himself worrying about him whenever he wasn’t within Ludwig’s range of vision, especially since the incident with the wolves. He had a hurt leg and Ludwig didn’t even want him out of bed, never mind Lovino’s sudden, miraculous decision that he not only had to do his own chores, but Ludwig’s as well. It wasn’t even that Lovino was just taking on extra work in general, he was only helping with Ludwig’s chores. A few days before, Ludwig would have thought himself insane if he’d known that he’d be telling Lovino to stop doing his chores in just under a week’s time. He was slow on his hurt leg, and Ludwig didn’t want him tearing his stitches. If he got chased by something, as fast as he used to be, a hurt leg would put him at a severe disadvantage. They were in the middle of the woods! Feeders weren’t the only danger! There were bears, bison, moose, coyotes- and God forbid Lovino ever ran into wolves again. If something happened to him while he wasn’t home, Ludwig would never, ever, ever forgive himself. But that was a risk both Gilbert and Lovino were (apparently) willing to take, because both had insisted on he and Gilbert going on this expedition together. Sure, Ludwig had argued, but he couldn’t say no to the way Lovino had puffed out his bottom lip and batted his long lashes and tilted his head just barely, and to how the light had seemed to cast a halo around the back of his head in a way that was so endearing that Ludwig had just caved in with a heavy sigh. He couldn’t really blame himself, though. Lovino had just woken from a nightmare about the wolves and spent a few minutes crying as quietly as he could to try and not gain Ludwig’s attention (Ludwig didn’t say anything because Lovino would have thrown a fit and accused of him getting off on Lovino’s pain, because that definitely made sense) and then made them all breakfast. Ludwig didn’t want to make his already delicate moods any worse by refusing him.

 

Yeah, that was the reason.

 

                Ludwig had been so lost in his thought that he hadn’t realized that they’d already arrived home. They’d left rather late, so despite being gone only two hours, the sun was already close to setting. Lovino was sitting next to the campfire, which had a pot presumably containing their dinner hanging over it, but he didn’t seem to be cooking. Instead, he was concentrating very hard on something in his hands. Ludwig set the bag down and cleared his throat, taking a startled step back when Lovino suddenly stood and faced him, smirking at him. Ludwig’s eyes fell on the thing in Lovino’s hand, which appeared to be a fake mustache fashioned out of pine needles. Lovino held it out in front of him, snickering.

 

                “Hah! I have created a secret weapon for such singular purpose and stealthy-ness that you will be helpless to its powers! Mustache! Hah! You look so very stupid, with your big bushy mustache like some hipster at an art school party!” Lovino shouted, cackling.

 

          “Ah… Lovino, you do know that from where I am that it looks like you’re the one with a mustache- “ Ludwig was cut off by a screech as Lovino threw the mustache to the ground.

 

          “No, don’t look at me, you pervert! I’m hideous!” Lovino wailed, covering his face with his hands. Ludwig shot his brother a frightened look, but only got a confused (and mildly amused) one in return.

 

          When Lovino had finally calmed down, the three sat around the fire together, all slowly eating the soup Lovino had cooked up. Lovino was a good chef, he knew what he was doing even without a recipe. Ludwig found that to be impressive. All he got in return for saying that, however, was a mumbled ‘shut up’ and a cherry red blush. Ludwig thought that was adorable.

 

          Eventually, Gilbert broke out the beers.

 

._._._._._._._.

 

          As much as Gilbert liked to talk a big game, he was a lightweight. This was something that Lovino was just learning now, as Gilbert had challenged him to a drinking contest and passed out after just a few beers. Lovino had shrieked with laughter when he had, and downed the rest of his beer. Ludwig hadn’t participated in the event. He’d designated himself as chaperone from the evening. He didn’t want to get wasted and find himself in a bad situation that he couldn’t get out of because he decided that it would be a good idea to get drunk in the middle of the apocalypse. Besides, someone needed to do work in the morning while everyone else was suffering the punishments of drinking so much. He did, however, treat himself to a beer, which he sipped slowly so he didn’t even get so much as lightheaded.

 

          Ludwig was staring off into space, unaware of the pair of eyes that had been focused on him for the past few minutes. Lovino was studying his face, eyes trailing from Ludwig’s thin lips to his slicked back hair and then back down again. There was a dazed concentration in his expression and a faint tinge of red in his cheeks from the alcohol. An adventurous hand reached out to touch Ludwig’s cheek, startling him from his thoughts.

 

          Ludwig looked at Lovino questioningly, but was taken aback by the amused smile he wore from having scared Ludwig like that. He scooted forwards so he could cup both of Ludwig’s cheeks, stroking them. Lovino’s fingers and hands were soft, save for a few blisters and callouses. He moved a hand up to run it through Ludwig’s hair, amusing himself by breaking the gelled strands apart and allowing them to hang down in the blonde’s face. Lovino murmured something Ludwig couldn’t quite catch, but before he could ask what had been said, Lovino’s thumb traced over his lip. Ludwig’s breath caught in his throat and he found himself staring at Lovino expectantly. Lovino seemed far too focused on staring at Ludwig’s lips to do anything about it, for the time being. Then, he locked eyes with Ludwig.

 

          Ludwig watched as Lovino leaned up and closer, eyes once again fixated on his lips. He closed his eyes in preparation, leaning forwards when he felt Lovino’s breath against his face.

 

          But the kiss never came.

 

          Instead, he heard Lovino wretch as he threw up into Ludwig’s lap.

 

          Ludwig sighed brokenly.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long wait, everyone! I'm having serious writer's block, but I refuse to abandon ship!  
> Haha get it?  
> Anyways.  
> On a more serious note, I know the chapter is very short, but I figured to try and ease myself back into the writing process, I'd keep it short and sweet. Slow and steady wins the race, right?  
> I tried to force myself to make it longer but it just wasn't working, I must have written eight completely different versions of this chapter before I finally settled on this one.
> 
> On the bright side, however, I have big plans for next chapter!
> 
> PLEASE leave me comments and constructive criticism below! What do you like about it? What could I be doing better? How in character are all the characters? Should I make it more funny? More serious? Angsty?
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Poor babies, they've been through a lot.  
> In terms of the setting, I was largely inspired by Firewatch. The scenery in the game was gorgeous, and it was something I really wanted to capture in a story. I set it in Yellowstone, a national park in Wyoming, USA because, not only is it beautiful, but there's so many different landscapes in one area that I could make the scenery, animals and plants I added diverse... and wild. There may be a run in with wolves or coyotes later in the story. Maybe a grizzly bear. Who knows?  
> But, continuing with my gushing over Yellowstone, if you don't know what it looks like, I highly recommend looking up pictures. It's gorgeous. The setting of their camp was inspired particularly by one picture from Shoshone National Park, however, which had similar enough flora in the photo that I could use it in the story. I'm still working on research to try and keep the story as accurate as possible. I've also set it to be the beginning of Autumn, so that I can transition into Winter and then, maybe, Spring. It depends how much I edit my plan in the development of the story and how long I draw it out to be.  
> Moving on.  
> Expect some harsh language from Lovino throughout the story, he's angry, he's bitter and he's kind of an asshole, so Ludwig is the perfect target.  
> Gilbert, Ludwig and Lovino are the main characters for a while, but be prepared for some new friends to turn up in the story.  
> Anyways, please feel free to leave constructive criticism and advice in the comments, as well as grammar/spelling corrections if needed.  
> Thank you!


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